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Business incentives cost $5,086 per job

Feld Entertainment, which builds props for its Ringling Brothers Barnum & Baily Circus at its Manatee County plant, promised to create 235 jobs in return for its incentives.

HERALD-TRIBUNE ARCHIVE / 2007

Staff and Wire Reports

Published: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, June 25, 2012 at 5:42 p.m.

Since January 2011, Florida has pledged nearly $155 million in tax breaks and other incentives to companies promising to create jobs in the state.

Among the biggest corporate winners: Embraer Aircraft Holding, Raymond James Financial, the Boeing Co. and Bi-Lo LLC, the new owner of Winn-Dixie Stores.

In Southwest Florida, the companies that received the most were Feld Entertainment Inc. in Manatee County and Cheney Brothers Inc. in Charlotte County, at $1.82 million and $1.67 million, respectively.

Feld, which owns the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, paid $8.35 million for a massive industrial building at 2001 N. U.S. 301 in Ellenton where it plans to move its headquarters from Virginia.

Cheney Brothers, a Riviera Beach-based food distributor, plans to open a new Charlotte County distribution center.

Companies looking in Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties are in line for about $7.07 million in state money to create 1,390 jobs, for a cost of about $5,086 per job.

Statewide, the pledges came with promises to create up to 32,570 jobs, a database from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity shows.

The database revealed some recipients whose names the state had withheld under privacy agreements during negotiations. Typically, state officials refuse to identify companies even as they approve project incentives. Instead they wait until companies are ready to announce a move or expansion.

Some recipients are in line for even greater financial incentives if they add more jobs, according to the list.

Officials, for example, had already announced Embraer will get $6 million in incentives if it brings 200 jobs to a new tech center in Brevard County. The list, however, indicates the aircraft company stands to reap another $8 million in incentives through a separate deal if it creates another 450 jobs in Brevard. The $8 million package, if it materializes, would be the single biggest corporate incentive award since Rick Scott became governor.

Gray Swoope, president and CEO of Enterprise Florida, the state's primary economic development group, said the database released by DEO mistakenly included information on about 80 deals still under confidentiality agreements. The entire list covers almost 270 deals.

Swoope declined to discuss which projects may be covered by confidentiality laws, but he said he was concerned those company names had become public.

"I'm worried first and foremost about my state's ability to compete when word gets out that we breached the confidentiality of that company," he said.

The state inadvertently included the confidential material in a database it sent to Integrity Florida, a new nonprofit research group focused on ethics reform. Integrity Florida provided the information to the First Amendment Foundation, a Tallahassee-based nonprofit that promotes open government. The First Amendment Foundation sent it to several news organizations.

The spreadsheet indicates that by far the biggest winner statewide are companies adding jobs in Brevard County, which has received some $31 million in awards, or about 20 percent of the total. In addition to Embraer, Boeing and Harris Corp. were both approved for multimillion-dollar incentives.

The second-largest single award was set aside for a deal that never materialized: a $6.9 million package intended to lure the headquarters of banana kingpin Chiquita Brands International to Palm Beach County. The company wound up moving its headquarters from Cincinnati to Charlotte, N.C., which offered more than $22 million in state and local incentives.

"I want to win every deal, but at the end of the day it has to be good for the taxpayers and good for the company," Swoope said.

Overall, he said, the state exceeded its goal to retain or create 20,000 jobs in the fiscal year that ends June 30. "The previous year, they actually did not hit their fiscal goal," Swoope said.

If history is a guide, many of the jobs detailed in the new list may not materialize. A Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald analysis late last year showed that state officials have signed contracts worth $1.7 billion in incentives since 1995, but only one-third of those jobs had been filled.

One recent example in the area: Last summer, the state set aside $2.65 million for Tampa technology company Savtira Corp. -- founded by former Sarasota-based serial entrepreneur Timothy Roberts -- to create 265 jobs in Hillsborough County. That project has since been categorized as "pending vacated" in the wake of Savtira's bankruptcy reorganization filing.

<p>Since January 2011, Florida has pledged nearly $155 million in tax breaks and other incentives to companies promising to create jobs in the state.</p><p>Among the biggest corporate winners: Embraer Aircraft Holding, Raymond James Financial, the Boeing Co. and Bi-Lo LLC, the new owner of Winn-Dixie Stores.</p><p>In Southwest Florida, the companies that received the most were Feld Entertainment Inc. in Manatee County and Cheney Brothers Inc. in Charlotte County, at $1.82 million and $1.67 million, respectively.</p><p>Feld, which owns the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, paid $8.35 million for a massive industrial building at 2001 N. U.S. 301 in Ellenton where it plans to move its headquarters from Virginia.</p><p>Cheney Brothers, a Riviera Beach-based food distributor, plans to open a new Charlotte County distribution center.</p><p>Companies looking in Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties are in line for about $7.07 million in state money to create 1,390 jobs, for a cost of about $5,086 per job.</p><p>Statewide, the pledges came with promises to create up to 32,570 jobs, a database from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity shows.</p><p>The database revealed some recipients whose names the state had withheld under privacy agreements during negotiations. Typically, state officials refuse to identify companies even as they approve project incentives. Instead they wait until companies are ready to announce a move or expansion.</p><p>Some recipients are in line for even greater financial incentives if they add more jobs, according to the list.</p><p>Officials, for example, had already announced Embraer will get $6 million in incentives if it brings 200 jobs to a new tech center in Brevard County. The list, however, indicates the aircraft company stands to reap another $8 million in incentives through a separate deal if it creates another 450 jobs in Brevard. The $8 million package, if it materializes, would be the single biggest corporate incentive award since Rick Scott became governor.</p><p>Gray Swoope, president and CEO of Enterprise Florida, the state's primary economic development group, said the database released by DEO mistakenly included information on about 80 deals still under confidentiality agreements. The entire list covers almost 270 deals.</p><p>Swoope declined to discuss which projects may be covered by confidentiality laws, but he said he was concerned those company names had become public.</p><p>"I'm worried first and foremost about my state's ability to compete when word gets out that we breached the confidentiality of that company," he said.</p><p>The state inadvertently included the confidential material in a database it sent to Integrity Florida, a new nonprofit research group focused on ethics reform. Integrity Florida provided the information to the First Amendment Foundation, a Tallahassee-based nonprofit that promotes open government. The First Amendment Foundation sent it to several news organizations.</p><p>The spreadsheet indicates that by far the biggest winner statewide are companies adding jobs in Brevard County, which has received some $31 million in awards, or about 20 percent of the total. In addition to Embraer, Boeing and Harris Corp. were both approved for multimillion-dollar incentives.</p><p>The second-largest single award was set aside for a deal that never materialized: a $6.9 million package intended to lure the headquarters of banana kingpin Chiquita Brands International to Palm Beach County. The company wound up moving its headquarters from Cincinnati to Charlotte, N.C., which offered more than $22 million in state and local incentives.</p><p>"I want to win every deal, but at the end of the day it has to be good for the taxpayers and good for the company," Swoope said.</p><p>Overall, he said, the state exceeded its goal to retain or create 20,000 jobs in the fiscal year that ends June 30. "The previous year, they actually did not hit their fiscal goal," Swoope said.</p><p>If history is a guide, many of the jobs detailed in the new list may not materialize. A Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald analysis late last year showed that state officials have signed contracts worth $1.7 billion in incentives since 1995, but only one-third of those jobs had been filled.</p><p>One recent example in the area: Last summer, the state set aside $2.65 million for Tampa technology company Savtira Corp. -- founded by former Sarasota-based serial entrepreneur Timothy Roberts -- to create 265 jobs in Hillsborough County. That project has since been categorized as "pending vacated" in the wake of Savtira's bankruptcy reorganization filing.</p><p><i>Information from the Tampa Bay Times was used in this report.</i></p>